Examined: The Backfire Effect | New Podcast

Examined: The Backfire Effect | New Podcast

Author: Pushkin Industries September 14, 2026 Duration: 33:12

Nearly 40 years ago, in the parking lot of a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, a 20-year-old student named Scott Macklem was shot dead in broad daylight. His murder shocked the community. It made no sense. The police quickly found their suspect. There was only one problem: the man said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And he could prove it. In Examined: The Backfire Effect, journalist Josie Duffy Rice talks with eyewitnesses, investigators and local reporters to unravel a shocking story of judicial apathy and expedience — a story that leaves no one off the hook.

Examined looks at overlooked cases that never got the real investigation they deserved. Each season features deeply reported stories about crime, punishment, and the criminal legal system. 

Find more episodes of Examined: The Backfire Effect wherever you get podcasts. Binge the full series now with a Pushkin+ subscription — sign up on the Examined Apple show page or at pushkin.fm/plus. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


There's a hidden world that exists just beneath the surface of everyday life, and Deep Cover pulls back the curtain. This Pushkin Industries production, rooted in history and true crime, isn't about casual secrets; it's an excavation of the elaborate double lives people construct, often at tremendous cost. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern guides you through these labyrinths, weaving together testimonies from the federal agents who pursue these stories and the convicted criminals who lived them. The result is a gripping narrative podcast that feels less like a lecture and more like stepping into a shadowy, parallel reality. One season might plunge you into a sprawling undercover operation, while another focuses on a devastating personal betrayal. For instance, in "Deep Cover Presents: Snowball," a special limited series from the team behind Unravel Podcast at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, host Ollie Wards unpacks how his own family lost everything after encountering a charming con artist from California. Each episode is built on firsthand accounts, revealing the meticulous planning, the psychological toll, and the inevitable moment when a fabricated identity collapses. You'll hear the tension in a voice, the pause before a difficult admission, and the chilling details that only someone who was there can provide. It's a deep, often unsettling look at the lengths people will go to become someone else, and the tangled webs they leave behind for others to unravel.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Deep Cover
Podcast Episodes
Episode 2: The Poster Child [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:43
In her home state of Rhode Island, Sarah builds her reputation as a celebrated war hero. But as her public profile grows, so do the quiet doubts. Get early, ad-free access to more episodes of Deep Cover: The Truth About…
Episode 1: The Warrior [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:49
A mysterious handwritten letter arrives from Sarah Cavanaugh. In it, she asks: What do you think of my crime? Get early, ad-free access to more episodes of Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah by subscribing to Pushkin+ on…
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:01
Sarah was everything people wanted her to be—until she wasn’t. Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah is available wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season, ad-free. Find Pushkin+ on th…
Episode 4: The Donor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:13
Amy Gaines McQuade sits down with GOP donor and former Santos supporter Cathy Soref. Then Amy and Jake Halpern discuss some of the most serious charges that George Santos faced, and pled guilty to in federal court. See o…
Episode 3: The Plea [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:57
George Santos pleaded guilty in federal court this week. Amy Gaines McQuade was in the courtroom. Amy and Jake discuss the proceeding and where things go from here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode 2: The Congressman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:28
George Santos takes office. His communications director, Naysa Woomer, walks us through her five months with Congressman Santos as she tries to manage the chaos and sort fact from fiction. Author Mark Chiusano unpacks so…
Episode 1: The Campaign [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:22
George Santos runs for Congress and wins. Then the stories he told on the campaign trail start to fall apart. Semafor’s Kadia Goba wants to figure out where his money is coming from. Saurav Ghosh, of the Campaign Legal C…
Deep Cover: George Santos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00
George Santos, the former Republican Congressman from New York, told a lot of stories about his life and his credentials. Many of which, it turns out, were not true. And now–in just a few weeks–Santos is scheduled to fac…
Unpacking the Verdict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:41
Jake Halpern speaks with Jerri Williams, former FBI agent and host of the podcast, FBI Retired Case File Review about the case at the center of our series, The Nameless Man. Then, Beth Wilson Devlin, a founding partner a…
Behind the Scenes of The Nameless Man [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:24
Jake Halpern speaks with James Forman Jr., story consultant on Deep Cover’s fourth season, The Nameless Man. James Forman Jr. is the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School, and the author of Locking Up Our…